Tid Bits...

A few tid bits I'd like to remember from this Christmas:

Johnny's favorite toy this year?
Remote control car? Very cool, played with it for a good hour I think, but no.
Walking, roaring, head and tail wagging dinosaur? "Awesome" but it didn't take the cake.
How about the Nerf gun? The kid does love his weapons. However he mostly played "hide from my Dad and Uncle as they shoot the balls at me" then he'd go collect them all and return the ammo for more fun. When he first got it he had too many balls to carry but didn't want to leave any behind so he worked carefully to find a spot for every ball including in his mouth, between his knees, under his chin and many in his arms (all while balancing his gun as well) until he had them all safely in his corner to try them out where no one else could get their hands on them.
No, the toy that made it to the number one spot on Johnny's list was.....
the slinky Santa threw into his stocking at the last minute.
We'll remember that for next year Johnny, thanks.

Alex's famous phrases for the holiday?

"I hate the snow, it's too cold! But I still want to go sledding later"

"She walks!" Referring to the horse Santa got her that didn't walk on it's own like it was suppose to for the first day she had her. It's a Christmas miracle!

"How come everyone else is wearing red, which is a Christmas color and I have to wear blue?"

"Can I sing Rodolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for everyone?" She asked this during the Christmas Eve program but when she got up there some how Mom was the only one singing.

"Is there anything I can get for you?" She was acting as waitress to everyone at the cabin taking orders from the treat table. At one point one of her uncles asked for a cheese burger to be funny and she came back with a roll filled with ham and chunks of cheese.

"What does my shirt say?"
-Spoiled-
(Pouting) "I don't want it to say spoiled, I want it to say princess."
-And that is why it says "spoiled"-

Our Christmas Break

What a Christmas Break. Micron took a mandatory 2 week vacation so we've had Brad home more than ever before, yeah! My little sis Sariah flew out with my cute nephew, Hunter.

We took some darn cute pictures... :o)

To see the rest go to my photo blog

We packed up Christmas and took it north to Brad's parent's cabin in Cascade.

Christmas Eve ski trip!

Lots of fun with the family:

Uncle Craig
Tate, Em & baby Aiden
Bret & Jo
Mom & Dad Day
We filled our time with:

Gingerbread houses
Snowmobile rides

Sledding

The best part of the holiday break?
Putting the kids down for quiet time at 1:00 and leaving them with Brad while Sariah and I went shopping, to the movies and ate Italian, arriving home 6 1/2 hours later.
Sariah played "personal shopper" for me, introduced me to tiramisu & "Phish Food" and taught me how to properly use a curling iron. Alex cried for an hour at bed time when she had to say good bye to Aunti Ri and Hunter since they were leaving extra early the next morning. She wrote Sariah a note asking her to "please stay tomorrow". It was a great visit and hopefully soon they will be here permanently so our "good byes" won't have to be for so long.

Things to Remember from this weekend....

-Alex starting it all off with the stomach flu.

-Jason and Suzy taking our kids overnight even though Alex had just had the stomach flu.

-The truck not starting on my way to drop off the kids and meet Brad for our date.

-Remember to remember not to let the kids play with the lights in the truck so it burns out the battery and eventually corrodes the connection to the battery making it impossible to even jump start.

-Twilight. The movie just reminded me of how good the books are and now I want to read them all over again.

-The first snow of the season.

-The new Japanese Steak House we found, must go there again.

-The cool glass-filled fire pits in the courtyard at our hotel and the nice hot jacuzzi.

-Sleeping in and not having to cater to kids first thing in the morning.

-Taking Alex to see the Nutcracker Ballet.

-Listen to Alex cringe whenever a male dancer came on stage because "you can see his...." "SHHH!"

-Watching one of the candy dancers slip and fall on her face, then pick herself right back up and into graceful mode again.

-Taking a break from the to do list and just having a good time.

Say Cheese!

Just a few from her party Wednesday. From the left end of the table around to the right end:

Lawson, Morgan, Maddy, Sierra, Emma, Madeline, Alex, Maddie, Johnny, Ethan, Logan, Jayden, Abigail. We pretty much had the place to ourselves and I had great coupons to keep the coins flowing for hardly anything and lots of willing parents to lend a hand where needed. I was pleasantly surprised to see Alex spending individual time with each of her friends throughout the evening. It was a lot of fun to see her be the center of attention she is always striving for.

Happy 6th Birthday Alex!

It's the most CRAZIEST time of the year...

That's how the song should go.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX! Now she really is going to think that the 3rd is her birthday since I didn't type this yesterday. Yesterday she turned 6 but her party is today. She doesn't think she is really six until she blows out those 6 candles at her cake today. Yesterday we started the morning with her favorite breakfast (waffles), unwrapped her first present of the day (from Johnny), a chauffeured ride to school (she usually rides the bus) and rice crispy treats for her class. After school we went to Burger King for kid's meals and extra time on the slides then a new movie once we got home. Once Brad got home she opened her presents from us (art supplies galore) and we headed out to the Micron Christmas Party to see Santa, bounce, slide, swing, win prizes and much more. It's a Christmas carnival we take the kids to every year and it seems like it gets bigger every year and my feet are even more tired every year by the end of the night. Last year I tried to get Alex to go on this trampoline where they attach you to a harness and bungee chords and she turned it down flat. This year we walked past it to meet Brad and Johnny up the stairs for some dinner and she insisted on going on it right then and there. The line looked shorter than I had ever seen it so I decided to take the extra time and give her the opportunity that I was surprised she wanted to take. Well the line ended up being a whole lot longer than what I thought, kids were saving spots for their siblings and it wrapped around the side of the trampoline that I thought were just spectators. So 45 mins later it is Alex's turn and since she looks as big as the other kids that were asking to be rocketed up as high as possible they gave her the same experience. She was off of there in one minute when most turns lasted at least 5. Of course once Johnny saw her on it he wanted a turn too but since he isn't patient enough to wait in line I told him he'd have to wait until next year. I doubt the harness would've even fit around his waist. It was fun though and of course we stayed past bedtime and the kids were exhausted and cranky when we told them it was time to leave. Here's hoping they got enough sleep last night because there's no time for napping today. After lunch we are borrowing my sister in law's Suburban and piling some of her friends in and meeting others at Chuck E Cheese for her birthday party that I literally had nightmares about last night. Here's hoping it all goes smoothly and we won't have to do this again for a few more years.

But of course that didn't start the craziness. Alex finished off school before their break with a Feast Day for about 70 Kindergartners all dressed up as Pilgrims or Indians and lined up in the hall with piles of food on their plates that of course Alex (and most of the others) didn't eat. Good thing there was plenty of popcorn.

Then we hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the Day family with 11 adults and 9 kids (we missed you Bret and Jo!). So for a few days our house was the hub for the gatherings. 2 turkeys, 10 pounds of potatoes, 8 bottles of Martinellis, 6 cans of olives and 12 pies later our house is empty again and feels just a little bit bigger.

Hopefully if I get past today I will be able to get things back on track to finish my website work, photography work, Brad's birthday, Alex's friend's birthdays, Christmas shopping, Christmas cards, put up Christmas decorations, fold the mountain of laundry that has accumulated, catch up on dishes, clean the house, take Alex to see the Nutcracker (can't wait), get ready for my sister Sariah and Hunter to fly out for a two week visit (just booked her tickets last night, yeah!), and check off the dozen other things on my list. Hopefully I'll be able to make a few picture pages for our album and get another blog posted but if you don't hear from me for awhile have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!